FrankenSport - Chassis Prep and Assembly

Shots of the chassis under construction at SRIII Motorsports. Stainless Works provided a pattern set of headers/sidepipes which fit perfectly. 

The engine is an 02' LS6/Z06 engine with Comp Cam and lifters, Precision Racing Stage II Heads, F-Body oil pan, Ram Clutch, Fidanza Aluminum Flywheel, and a MagnaCharger Hot-Rod Intercooled Supercharger System . Street & Performance helped out with putting the bling on (as they call it).

We are shooting for total weight of this ride to come in around 2800 or so lbs. The engine is expected to push about 500+hp at the rear wheels. With a 6speed T56 OD tranny and a Dana 44 with 3.90 gears, C4 aluminum suspension, QA1 adjustable coilover shocks, power steering, power brakes, and Air Conditioning, this should be quite the ride. 

Chassis was prepped, primed, and painted a metallic pewter. Assembly will begin with the C4 suspension components and the engine/tranny will be dropped in. 

The SRIII Chassis was so exact in dimensions that the engine just dropped right down and in. The bolts went through the mounts with no effort at all. 

Started adding some goodies to the engine including the custom APS valve covers and coil brackets, Street & Performance chrome throttle body and elbow, and Stainless Works custom headers. The red MSD Coil packs offset all the chrome with some nice contrast. A lot of effort will be put into hiding the engine management system and wiring harnesses. Our feeling is that when done the engine compartment should look better than when it left the factory.

Suspension coming together. A splash of red always goes a long way with a Corvette!

And we now have a rolling chassis. Only thing left is sway bars, brake lines, and fuel system. A custom Aluminum tank and a heavy duty aluminum driveshaft from Denny's Driveshafts. 

Test Fitting the body on the chassis. It dropped right on the first shot. There will only be a few minor trimmings required. Obviously the wheels and tires pictured are not those that will be installed in the final stages.

A custom aluminum fuel tank was built to replace the original. It had to be slightly smaller in dimensions from the original to fit between the narrowed frame rails and to be able to be removed with the body on.

The space in front of the tank was used to mount the fuel filter and Aeromotive pump. First step was to fabricate a tray and route the steel braided lines to clear any suspension components and tuck in tight along the frame rails. 

Competed tank installation and mount for the pump and filter.. 

Lots of little things going on. Wiring, fuel lines, brake lines, driveshaft, parking brake, battery cables, and all the little stuff getting ready for the body drop. 

Big fat hi-strength aluminum driveshaft from Dennys.

Fuel pump and filter install.

The bumper cushions were cleaned up and installed. 

Body was installed again after being painted, then removed one last time to finalize the location of brake lines, fuel lines, battery cables, heater hoses, and more. All the parts that will be used in the assembly are laid out on tables in categories. Sort of like a mini assembly line.

The battery cable is run through the frame. 

The fuel send and return lines as well as the brake lines were all run along the frame rails. 

The parking brake cable which normally comes down along the side of the driveshaft needed to be rerouted also. The new HD Aluminum driveshaft is so fat in diameter the e-brake cable had to be located in a way to clear the tailhousing. We took a pulley and mount off and old chassis and welded it to the front of the crossmember. It just clears everything.

We also finished painting all the HVAC pieces and hood hinges, latches, supports, etc. The interior pieces, which were previously tan, are now dyed black and ready to be installed. A new dash is being installed and all hardware from the old dash is transferred over.